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Grade 7 Reading OAT Authentic Questions Reading Applications: Literary Text Standard Whitewater Porcupine Reading Passage Questions 1. “Reflected moonlight from the rippled surface of the lake knifed through slits in the dock.”

Which statement best explains the meaning of the sentence above?

A. Water was wearing away at the dock like a sharp tool.

B. Moonlight revealed a knife that had fallen into the lake.

C. Narrow rays of moonlight shone up between the boards of the dock.

D. Moonlight reflected off the water like light gleaming off a sharp knife. 2. How does the author choose to present the story in the passage?

A. by relating the porcupine’s sounds and actions as told by another animal

B. by relating the sounds and actions of all animals as told by a person in the cottage

C. by describing the porcupine’s feelings, sounds and actions through a third person narrator

D. by describing the porcupine’s feelings, sounds and actions from the porcupine’s first person point of view

3. Using a specific detail from the passage, identify the time of year in which the story takes place. Then explain why the season is important to the plot.

Write your answer on a separate piece of paper. (2 points) 4. Which theme does the passage illustrate?

A. Nothing in life happens without a plan.

B. Suffering results in wisdom and strength.

C. Adventure can occur when least expected.

D. The laws of nature apply to animals and human beings. Yia-Yia’s Dance Reading Passage Questions 5. “There was always work to be done at her house—floors to scrub and pots to wash and clothes to

iron and schoolwork to finish late into the night at the kitchen table.”

In the sentence above, what does the word “and” emphasize?

A. the great deal of work Yia-Yia has to do

B. the increasing difficulty of Yia- Yia’s tasks

C. the way Yia-Yia looks forward to doing her chores

D. the way that Yia-Yia’s family relies on her to complete her job

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6. “She held a tune in her heart and tapped out a beat with her toes, so the time passed quickly by.”

What does the sentence above mean?

A. Yia-Yia spent her time thinking of songs and dancing to them.

B. Yia-Yia always carried songs in her pockets wherever she went.

C. Yia-Yia played the radio and thought about dancing year in and year out.

D. Yia-Yia had to move quickly to keep up with the fast songs playing around her. 7. “She high-stepped her way from the kitchen to the laundry room, from the grocery to the church. She tied back her long hair with scarves of blue and green.”

Which words best describe Yia- Yia’s attitude toward everyday life in the sentences above?

A. quiet and dutiful

B. careful and anxious

C. joyful and energetic

D. relaxed and peaceful 8. The narrator often uses figurative language to describe Yia-Yia’s movements. Select four

examples from the list below and explain the meaning of each.

• “...she dances like a ribbon, like a smooth, sun-glinting, wind-tossed ribbon.”

• “...she twirled and whirled on her way to school... .”

• “...her feet barely touched the ground.”

• “She high-stepped her way from the kitchen to the laundry room... .”

• “Her arms glide like the wings of a swan.”

• “Her dark, silver-streaked hair comes alive like a moonless night lit by shimmering silver stars.”

• “And it curls in the air like the smoke rising from a village bonfire.”

Write your answer on a separate piece of paper. (4 points) 9. What does Yia-Yia’s dancing symbolize?

A. her love of life

B. her love for Papou

C. her longing for Greece

D. her appreciation of nature

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The Story of My Life Reading Passage Questions 10. Why did Helen Keller have a conflict with Miss Sullivan?

A. She wanted Miss Sullivan to let her play.

B. She could not follow Miss Sullivan’s rules.

C. She would not go outside with Miss Sullivan.

D. She was frustrated by Miss Sullivan’s lessons. 11. “Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten—a thrill of returning thought; and

somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me.”

What was the “mystery” that “was revealed” to Helen Keller?

A. the idea that learning involves remembering facts

B. the knowledge that teachers want their pupils to learn

C. the acceptance that it takes time for students to master their lessons

D. the awareness that there is a relationship between words and objects 12. “There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away.”

What feeling does the language in the sentence above primarily express?

A. hope

B. regret

C. hostility

D. concern 13. “In the still, dark world in which I lived there was no strong sentiment or tenderness.”

Explain why Helen Keller makes the statement above and whether the statement holds true throughout the passage. Support each of your explanations with specific details from the passage.

Write your answer on a separate piece of paper. (4 points) 14. Which sentence from the passage illustrates that the narrator’s point of view is subjective?

A. “The morning after my teacher came, she led me into her room and gave me a doll.”

B. “The little blind children at the Perkins Institution had sent it and Laura Bridgman had dressed It... .”

C. “Running downstairs to my mother I held up my hand and made the letters for doll.”

D. “As we returned to the house every object which I touched seemed to quiver with life.”

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Esperanza Rising Reading Passage Questions 15. In paragraphs 11–17, how does the narrative viewpoint of the passage affect the reader?

A. Papa’s first-person narration provides the reader with a description of the land.

B. Esperanza’s first-person narration enables the reader to understand how she feels about Papa and learn why he loves the land.

C. Third-person narration provides the reader with a description of Papa’s and Esperanza’s actions without revealing their thoughts.

D. Third-person narration allows the reader to understand Esperanza’s actions and Papa’s actions and hear her thoughts about the land and her papa.

16. Explain the importance of the setting to the passage. Support your answer with one detail from the passage.

Write your answer on a separate piece of paper. (2 points)

17. How does Esperanza know what Papa is thinking at the end of the passage?

A. She recalls his words.

B. She feels his heartbeat.

C. She listens to his breathing.

D. She watches his expression. If I Ever Return Again Reading Passage Questions 18. Identify how Celia feels about William not going with the family on the voyage at the beginning of

the voyage and how she feels about this later in the voyage. Support each answer with a detail from the passage.

Write your answer on a separate piece of paper. (4 points)

19. “I keep my eye on the modest waves, as if my watching will hold them as they are.” What is the meaning of Celia’s statement above?

A. She is worried that the waves will get rough again as soon as she stops looking at them.

B. She is concerned that the rough waves will force her to go inside to her cabin.

C. She is relieved that the waves will remain calm the rest of the voyage.

D. She is happy that she can see distant waves through the spyglass.

20. “There is no land in sight now. Not even a speck of it. No other ships. Nothing here but sea and sky.”

How does the author choose specific words to create an effect in these sentences?

A. The author uses the words “no,” “not” and “nothing” to create a feeling of emptiness and isolation.

B. The author uses the words “land,” “sea” and “sky” to create a sense of natural beauty.

C. The author uses short sentences to create an impression of speed and excitement.

D. The author uses descriptive words to create a sense of variety and change.

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21. What is the importance of the setting in this passage?

A. The setting provides a learning experience for Celia.

B. The setting proves that superstitions are based on facts.

C. The setting supplies amusing details for Abigail to write about.

D. The setting persuades Abigail to make arrangements for her next sailing trip.

22. What is the effect of the subjective point of view in this passage?

A. The reader receives information that is influenced by the narrator’s emotions.

B. The reader receives information that comes from experienced sailors.

C. The reader receives an accurate account of Celia’s activities.

D. The reader receives a hopeful account of life on the sea.

Whitewater Porcupine

Gillian Richardson

1 Water droplets pattered onto the gold and brown leaves that covered the forest floor. The last

shreds of cloud glided away toward the low hills, and the moon beamed down in their wake. The

rain stopped just in time for the porcupine’s nightly foraging to begin.

2 The dark brown, chunky figure climbed down the tree trunk and shuffled over the soggy leaf carpet.

Her search for tasty vegetation that might linger in sheltered spots turned up meager pickings,

however. There had already been several nights of hard frost so the animal spent more time

traveling than eating. Before the night was half over, she’d wandered out of her usual territory and

into a clearing where a rustic cottage overlooked a lake.

3 A stick leaning against a shed attracted her attention.

The porcupine sniffed delicately, standing on her hind

feet and running her forepaws over the well-worn ax

handle. A delectable, salty taste met her tongue as she

gave an experimental lick. With a soft grunt of

satisfaction, she began to nibble on the wood that so

many human hands had gripped.

4 By the time dawn’s approach faded the inky sky to

pearl ray, the ax handle had been neatly severed in

half. The porcupine waddled down to the lakeshore for

a drink, then back up the slope, where she crawled into

a space between a woodpile and the shed to sleep

through the daylight hours and another rain shower.

5 In the late afternoon, the porcupine emerged from her

bed and continued exploring. The cottage was well

boarded up and allowed no easy access. On the dock,1

the porcupine found an old rowboat. It was overturned,

but one side had been propped up with a block of

wood. There was ample space for a curious critter to

crawl underneath. Reflected moonlight from the rippled

surface of the lake knifed through slits in the dock. It

bounced off the walls of the shadowy boat-cave and

back onto the dock’s wet surface.

1 dock: a pier used as a landing area for boats

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6 The oars had been laid across the boat seats for storage, and the animal’s appetite for salt was

aroused again. Her long, curved claws grasped one of the oars and pulled. It began to slide free,

only to become wedged against the boat’s hull.2 The porcupine gave an extra firm tug that

suddenly released the oar and set a whole chain of events in motion.

7 Thrown off balance, she backed into the wooden prop, pushing it over. The boat dropped onto the

slippery dock, pinning the tip of her quill-covered tail. Alarmed, the animal shot forward, yanking the

trapped quills loose and bumping into the opposite side of the boat, giving it the extra momentum it

needed to continue its slide right off the dock. The boat rolled as it fell, landing right side up with a

smack on the water. The porcupine tumbled into it.

8 The impact of the animal’s body drove the boat away from shore. The craft drifted beyond a rocky

headland, where a breeze easily swept it over the surface. The porcupine was now the sole crew of

an oarless rowboat, floating free on a moonlit, wilderness lake.

9 Once she had checked for a possible escape and found none short of swimming, the porcupine

settled down on the rowboat’s flat bottom. She was quite capable of swimming but felt no sense of

urgency. Instead, she did what porcupines do best—she began to gnaw on the seats. When the

sky brightened into morning, she was lulled to sleep by the water’s gentle rocking motion, unaware

that the boat was moving steadily toward a spot where the lake drained into a river.

10 As the water squeezed into the channel, the boat gathered speed. The porcupine was startled

awake by the changing pitch and roll and by the thumping of waves kicked up by rocks just

beneath the surface. The river narrowed into an expanse of rapids.

Reprinted by permission of CRICKET magazine, November 2002, Vol. 30, No. 3, text © 2002 by Gillian

Richardson, art © 2002 by Carus Publishing Company.

2hull: the body of a ship, including its bottom and sides

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Yia-Yia’s Dance Laurie Halse Anderson

1 The night she was born, everyone danced. 2 My Yia-Yia,1 my beautiful grandmother—she dances like a ribbon, like a smooth, sun-glinting,

wind-tossed ribbon.

3 Yia-Yia was born in a tiny village in Greece. Her four brothers, her grandparents, and all the aunts,

uncles, and cousins danced around a bonfire long into the night when she was born. Her mother

and father had waited many years for a girl child. Their love for her was as deep as the sea. Her

father took her outside to the happy relatives when she was only one hour old. She opened her

eyes. She watched the firelight and smoke curl up to the stars that hung above their village.

4 Just as she was learning how to walk, the family packed up everything they owned and crossed

the ocean in a ship. The sailors taught her how to dance to the music of a pipe, while sea gulls

sang overhead.

5 When she got bigger, she twirled and whirled on her way to school in the morning. She snapped

her fingers and clicked her heels on the way home in the afternoon. There was always work to be

done at her house—floors to scrub and pots to wash and clothes to iron and schoolwork to finish

late into the night at the kitchen table. She held a tune in her heart and tapped out a beat with her

toes, so the time passed quickly by.

6 Back then my Papou2 stood tall and strong. He fell in love with the way Yia-Yia’s black hair glowed

in the candlelight of their church. He talked to each one of her four brothers and her father and

then her mother to get permission to sit next to her on the stoop3 and drink lemonade. They ate

sweet cakes she made with her slender hands. When he asked her to marry him he had a spot of

honey on his chin.

7 At their wedding, her feet barely touched the ground. The voices of the singers and the perfume of

the incense coiled around her heart and made her eyes wet. Wearing their wedding crowns, she

and her beloved walked three times around the altar and became partners for life.

8 Later came babies—my mom, my Aunt Helena, and my Uncle Costas. Yia-Yia danced with them

all so they wouldn’t fuss. She played old records and whispered stories of a faraway village. With

a baby in her arms, she hummed the tunes of far away. She high-stepped her way from the

kitchen to the laundry room, from the grocery to the church. She tied back her long hair with

scarves of blue and green.

1Yia-Yia: the Greek word for “grandmother” 2Papou: the Greek word for “grandfather” 3stoop: front porch

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9 When the children grew older she taught them the right steps: chin up, back straight, eyes clear

and steady. She kissed Papou on the chin when he came home in the evening, tired from the mill.

She pulled him to the soft chair and served him thick coffee and figs while dinner cooked.

10 Uncle Costas married Aunt Tessa, and Aunt Helena married Uncle Roy, and my mom married my

dad. Then came the grandchildren—roly-poly grandchildren who loved pastries and cookies and a

spinning grandmother who hummed.

11 These days the best place to see my Yia-Yia dance is at the church festival. The guitar music

rings in my ears, and the salty-sweet tastes of Greece fill my mouth. Yia-Yia and Papou sit at the

end of a long table. They watch the young people dance in graceful lines that snake in and out of

the room. They smile at their friends and wave to their children and grandchildren, but Yia-Yia

does not dance ... until the band plays the sailor’s song. She takes the snow-white handkerchief

from Papou’s jacket pocket and slides the scarf from her hair. Everyone in the room stops to

watch her.

12 She dances. Her arms glide like the wings of a swan. Her feet stomp and her legs leap, harder

and higher than the youngest girl. Her proud face is strong, like the faces in the paintings in the

church. The music grows louder, and her children and grandchildren cheer. She throws back her

head. Her dark, silver-streaked hair comes alive like a moonless night lit by shimmering silver

stars. And it curls in the air like the smoke rising from a village bonfire.

Copyright © 1998 by Highlights for Children, Inc., Columbus, Ohio.

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The Story of My Life Helen Keller

1 The morning after my teacher came she led me into her room and gave me a doll. The

little blind children at the Perkins Institution had sent it and Laura Bridgman1 had dressed

it; but I did not know this until afterward. When I had played with it a little while, Miss

Sullivan slowly spelled into my hand the word “d-o-l-l.” I was at once interested in this

finger play and tried to imitate it. When I finally succeeded in making the letters correctly I

was flushed with childish pleasure and pride. Running downstairs to my mother I held up

my hand and made the letters for doll. I did not know that I was spelling a word or even

that words existed; I was simply making my fingers go in monkey-like imitation. In the

days that followed I learned to spell in this uncomprehending way a great many words,

among them pin, hat, cup, and a few verbs like sit, stand, and walk. But my teacher had

been with me several weeks before I understood that everything has a name.

2 One day, while I was playing with my new doll, Miss Sullivan put my big rag Doll into my

lap also, spelled “d-o-l-l” into my hand, and tried to make me understand that “d-o-l-l”

applied to both. Earlier in the day we had had a tussle over the words “m-u-g” and “w-a-t-

e-r.” Miss Sullivan had tried to impress it upon me that “m-u-g” is mug and that “w-a-t-e-r”

is water, but I persisted in confounding the two. In despair she had dropped the subject for

the time, only to renew it at the first opportunity. I became impatient at her repeated

attempts and, seizing the new doll, I dashed it upon the floor. I was keenly delighted when

I felt the fragments of the broken doll at my feet. Neither sorrow nor regret followed my

passionate outburst. I had not loved the doll. In the still, dark world in which I lived there

was no strong sentiment or tenderness. I felt my teacher sweep the fragments to one side

of the hearth, and I had a sense of satisfaction that the cause of my discomfort was

removed. She brought me my hat, and I knew I was going out into the warm sunshine.

This thought, if a wordless sensation may be called a thought, made me hop and skip with

pleasure.

3 We walked down the path to the well-house,2 attracted by the fragrance of the

honeysuckle with which it was covered. Some one was drawing water and my teacher

placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled

into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention

fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of

something forgotten—a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language

was revealed to me. I knew then that “w-a-t-e-r” meant the wonderful cool something that

was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set

it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away.

4 I left the well-house eager to learn. Everything had a name, and each name gave birth to

a new thought. As we returned to the house every object which I touched seemed to

quiver with life. That was because I saw everything with a strange, new sight that had

come to me. On entering the door I remembered the doll I had broken. I felt my way to the

hearth and picked up the pieces. I tried vainly to put them together. Then my eyes filled

with tears; for I realized what I had done, and for the first time I felt repentance and

sorrow. 1 Laura Bridgman: a student from the Perkins Institution 2 well-house: a shed housing a water pump Excerpt from The Story of My Life by Helen Keller, pp. 35-37, © copyright 1902, 1903, 1905 by Helen Keller.

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Esperanza Rising

Pam Munoz Ryan

1 “Our land is alive, Esperanza,” said Papa, taking her small hand as they walked through the gentle slopes of the vineyard. Leafy green vines draped the arbors and the grapes were ready to drop. Esperanza was six years old and loved to walk with her papa through the winding rows, gazing up at him and watching his eyes dance with love for the land.

2 “This whole valley breathes and lives,” he said, sweeping his arm toward the distant

mountains that guarded them. “It gives us the grapes and then they welcome us.” He gently touched a wild tendril that reached into the row, as if it had been waiting to shake his hand. He picked up a handful of earth and studied it. “Did you know that when you lie down on the land, you can feel it breathe? That you can feel its heart beating?”

3 “Papi, I want to feel it,” she said. 4 “Come.” They walked to the end of the row, where the incline of the land formed a grassy

swell. 5 Papa lay down on his stomach and looked up at her, patting the ground next to him. 6 Esperanza smoothed her dress and knelt down. Then, like a caterpillar, she slowly inched

flat next to him, their faces looking at each other. The warm sun pressed on one of Esperanza’s cheeks and the warm earth on the other.

7 She giggled. 8 “Shhh,” he said. “You can only feel the earth’s heartbeat when you are still and quiet.” 9 She swallowed her laughter and after a moment said, “I can’t hear it, Papi.” 10 “Aquántate tantito y la fruta caerá en tu mano,” he said. “Wait a little while and the fruit

will fall into your hand. You must be patient, Esperanza.” 11 She waited and lay silent, watching Papa’s eyes. 12 And then she felt it. Softly at first. A gentle thumping. Then stronger. A resounding thud,

thud, thud against her body. 13 She could hear it, too. The beat rushing in her ears. Shoomp, shoomp, shoomp. 14 She stared at Papa, not wanting to say a word. Not wanting to lose the sound. Not

wanting to forget the feel of the heart of the valley.

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15 She pressed closer to the ground, until her body was breathing with the earth’s. And with Papa’s. The three hearts beating together.

16 She smiled at Papa, not needing to talk, her eyes saying everything.

17 And his smile answered hers. Telling her that he knew she had felt it. From ESPERANZA RISING by Pam Munoz Ryan. Copyright © 2000 by Pam Munoz Ryan. Reprinted by permission of Scholastic Inc.

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If Ever I Return Again Corinne Demas

1 October 28, 1856 2 My Dearest Abigail— 3 I could not write for many days. 4 It seems so smooth at first I thought that I would prove a seaman from the start. How wrong I

was! Out past the bay in open ocean the waves were peaked with white, and the ship began to pitch and roll. I felt so sick I stumbled to my cabin where I stayed until this morning, when Papa took me up on deck, saying the air would do me good. Which it has done. Perhaps I have my sea legs, as they call it, at last.

5 When we left New Bedford it was cold but clear, a fair wind, Papa said. Mother was in her cabin

arranging things, but I wanted to be out on deck. I kept my eye on the sweet shoreline till it disappeared from me, bit by bit, till it was just a line. I held it there in memory long after it was gone. Papa passed me his spyglass1 and through it I could see what had been lost before. Sometime in the world maybe there will be a spyglass so strong I could see not just New Bedford, but all the way back home, to you in Eastham, or even as far as our cousins in Salem, and beyond.

6 I feel much better now and have begun to eat again, but I am nervous as I had not been when we

first started out. The Jupiter is sailing smoothly now, but I no longer trust this sea to keep itself this tame, this ship to keep itself this steady. I keep my eye on the modest waves, as if my watching will hold them as they are.

7 Mr. Prater, the steward,2 said it was bad luck to set sail on a Friday, but Papa would have none of

it—“foolish superstition,” he called it, and since the winds were right on the seventeenth, on a Friday we set sail. Of course I know that Papa is right and I take no stock in Mr. Prater’s notions, till, it made me uneasy when Mr. Prater shook his head and mumbled, “Let no one say I didn’t try to warn you, sir.”

8 Dear Abigail, I am not sure now that I should have said that I would come. Is this what I get for my

obstinate ways? Remember how I pleaded with Papa and made such a nuisance of myself until he and Mother agreed that I could join them? I knew if he did not take me now he never would. I had thought, poor William, so hard for him to be left behind. Though I imagined he would be happier staying there with you with Charles and Sam for company, than here on board with no boy his age. And Papa promised him next trip he’ll be the one to go.

9 And now I think of William in that lovely house on firm ground and envy him. I think of all things

firm: the chimney, brick upon brick no wind could tumble, the great stones of the hearth, the trees. These masts were once the tallest, straightest of the trees, but here, deprived of roots and fastened to this ship instead, they are all at the mercy of the whims of the sea. They tilt at the slightest provocation.

10 There is no land in sight now. Not even a speck of it. No other ships. Nothing here but sea and

sky. In all directions it is the same. Nothing to amuse the eye except the shape of clouds. One above That looks like a legless horse, another that looks like the profile of Mr. Soames, the Schoolmaster, his nose, though white instead of red.

11 How desolate this sea! I have never been so far from land before. So far I have to wonder if it

really still is there, and did not simply vanish in the sea.

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12 I’m wanted now, below. I’ll continue this letter soon as I am able.

13 In haste—Celia

1spyglass: a small telescope 2steward: a person who works on a ship “If I Ever Return Again” by Corinne Demas, copyright © 2000. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.